eBay Interviews HoneVille on Managed Payments Experience

eBay published an interview with eBay seller Danny Hone of HoneVille about his experience using its new managed payments (MP). eBay has received some pushback from sellers about the lack of critical features in its initial rollout of MP, including the lack of PayPal as an option for buyers.

“I was leery about the effect that not accepting PayPal would have on my business, but sales are coming in as normal,” Hone told eBay. “When I think about this time last year, my PayPal (30-cent transaction) fees were $1,200. And now, that will be coming directly to me. ”

And that cost savings is something eBay has been banking on to attract sellers. It charges sellers a flat rate of 2.7%, while PayPal charges an additional fee of 30 cents per transaction. (Unlike PayPal, eBay does not appear to be offering reduced rates for high-volume sellers at this time.)

Hone said the 30-cent savings was the major factor in his decision to become an early adopter of managed payments in September. “When I decided to sign up for managed payments, it was really about the 30 cents savings. I do more than 5,000 sales in a year, so that savings adds up to over $1,500 back in my pocket. If you’re a higher volume seller, that 30 cents adds up fast. It’s a huge advantage for me.”

Hone sells custom-designed t-shirts through his eBay store, HoneVille1. In its post today, eBay said Hone had already processed over 150 transactions through the managed payments experience in the 3 weeks since he joined the program.

“I was expecting a slowdown,” Hone told eBay, “but within an hour of being opted-in I had my first cha-ching. Two days later, I sold more than I had during the entire month of September. I keep meticulous records and I can tell you that October 8, 2018, was the best day I’ve had since 2006. My sales are up 33% over the last 30 days. When you have a day like October 8th, you know that your business is going in the right direction.”

Note that we’re not clear if participating in managed payments gives sellers an added boost in search visibility.

In addition to the significant cost savings, Hone addressed what he saw as one of the biggest benefits of managed payments: “I love the new payments portal. Right after I signed up, I went into the Seller Hub and there was a new tab for Payments. It’s extremely well laid out. I especially love the sales records number because it allows me to easily track purchases. You can run a business from anywhere in the world now.”

Significantly, Hone said, “I would sign up again (for managed payments) if I had to do it over, knowing what I know today.”

However, sellers considering whether to participate in the program should do their homework and understand the impact of managed payments’ disbursement lag on their cash flow, and other implications of using MP. (“Depending on your bank, you can typically expect payouts to be sent to your bank account within 2-4 business days of an order confirmation.)

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.

– I do more than 5,000 sales in a year
400/Month average + /- seasonality
-eBay said Hone had already processed over 150 transactions through the managed payments experience in the 3 weeks
Ok so just 50% of average
-I was expecting a slowdown,” Hone told eBay, “but within an hour of being opted-in I had my first cha-ching. Two days later, I sold more than I had during the entire month of September. I keep meticulous records and I can tell you that October 8, 2018, was the best day I’ve had since 2006. My sales are up 33% over the last 30 days.

Maybe they should have put a pencil to that to make sure the numbers aligned. Or maybe it’s me being suspicious of anything that goes out over eBay’s Loudspeaker, either way , it sounds like a double dipped post of BS to me.

I was just thinking the same thing. He averages 5000 a sales a year but has now been averaging 50 sales a week in the new program, which is about 50% of his normal sales.

Once again Ebay can’t even get anything done right. A publicity story is supposed to show how much better things are under the new system, not that sales are running only half of what they used to but the Seller hasn’t put that information together yet.

Also if October 8th was the best day he has had since 2006 then the rest of the 3 weeks must have been dead or he would have more than 150 transactions over the 3 weeks the program has been in existence. Basically this sounds more like a made up story of numbers in exchange for the free publicity from Ebay for the Seller, but nobody bothered to check and see if the math made any sense whatsoever. Sure does not say much for the meticulous record keeping either or the credibility of the subject.

According to eBay, “honeville1” sold 9 items October 8th with $168.11 in sales ($18.68 ASP)

I took a quick filter of the last 200 honeville1 items sold, then counted the remainder sold on the same date on the next page for a total of 210 items over a 26 day period. This snapshot extrapolates to ~8 sales a day and ~3k/yr.

With seasonality considered, I suppose an additional 2k items annually is not out of the question, but I do find it surprising as I would have expected summer to be his hot season and he’s saying October 8th was his best days since 2006.

But what’s with this emphasis with the October 8th?
DId eBay get this wrong?
Did HoneVille factor in other accounts (or channels) for his October 8th sales and either he and/or eBay choose not to disclose?

SIDE NOTE: I couldn’t help but notice all HoneVill’s promotion banners were appearing at the TOP of his listing pages.

Another feel good ebay story…sans PERTINENT details.
1) …”this time last year”. $1200 is 4,000 sales. Is that last 12 months? YTD? Since opting in?
Frame of reference is meaningless in deciding how big or small he is relative to other sellers
in his category, and/or overall.
2) “October 8, 2018, was the best day I’ve had since 2006.” So, best day in 12 years.
Did he have 100 listings in 2006, and 5,000 on Oct. 8th?
3) ebay always takes the side of causality…ignores correlation.
(“Ipso facto, this happened. End of story.”) ZERO chance he had a lucky day?
Gotta wonder…if it WAS cauasality, is ebay featuring sellers in MP?

From our experience with HONEVILLE will take whatever he says with a grain of salt and a healthly doser of vinegar. He stretches the truth like a rubber band and when something goes wrong like the rubber band breaks WATCH OUT.

We really think will all the problems he supposely has had with ebay he is now a EBAY STOOLIE.

He has to play good guy for fear of being banned. Last we heard from him, he and his t shirts were leaving. WHAT A TURN AROUND.

fleecebay with all the practice they have with smoke, mirrors and blatant lies could not even make up a story to make the managed payments look good. morons, and another new 52 week low for fleecebay stock.

“In its post today, eBay said Hone had already processed over 150 transactions through the managed payments experience in the 3 weeks since he joined the program.”

Okay I went and looked at Honeville. On October 8th he had 9 sales for a grand total of $168.11 which included free shipping by Priority mail Padded envelope for a net grass sales of approximately $105.11 figuring $7.00 for each mailing. say the shirts and hoodies cost $45.00 that means $60.00 profit and he is elated about that? It is all a bunch of garbage and just goes to show how some of these people think. To me that is just a ho-hum day. Does not eBay know that what this idiot says can be easily verified?

The math doesn’t work. He averages 400 sales a month before managed payments. He has had 150 sales in 3 weeks since being on managed payments. That is 250 sales short of his average monthly sales he said he received BEFORE managed payments which means in the next week he has to have 250 more sales to hit his average before managed payments sales. Then he says October 8 was his best sales day since 2008. Did all 150 sales he had in 3 weeks come in on October 8? That can’t be because he said he received his 1st sale on managed payments within an hour of signing up. Then he said over the last 30 days his sales are up 33% over last year. That means he should be averaging around 532 sales per month now, but he has had only 150 sales in 3 weeks. He also claims to keep meticulous records. Someone can’t do the math or doesn’t think we will do the math.

An interview with Honeville about selling on FeeBay is about as much value to me as an interview with the Clintons about the subject of corrupt politicians. I would rather read the 4-page Pashto safety precautions that came with the bottle of glass cleaner I bought.

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